Death... and me

Left with no choice, Lanteo eventually threw caution to the wind and finally appeared on the battlefield. "Don't think I can't deal with the two of you!"

Luina and Himive looked at each other and nodded. Himisve now had to follow Luina's orders until the competition was over, so he knew he had to attack. Besides, he kind of didn't hate it that much anymore. With what Rean and Roan had shown him so far, perhaps joining their ranks would be the best choice.

Luina and Himisve fought against Lanteo for several minutes. Yes, just minutes since it was a two vs. one situation. Ultimately, though, Luina and Himisve lured Lanteo further away from the battlefront. After many days of battle, Roan considered that it was already enough training for his army, so they returned to the same plan as before. Besides, since it was Lanteo who came out first, others wouldn't find it too suspicious if he suddenly lost.

Lanteo was surrounded by many Transition Realm cultivators, demon beasts, and spirits. Even if he wanted to flee, he had nowhere to go. Just as he was about to die, Lanteo forced out the words he didn't want to use at any cot, the Sect Oath! With that, this war was finally over. Lanteo's subordinates weren't that bothered by Lanteo's loss, though. The way Lanteo treated them, they were quite happy to see the guy lose that badly. The two of them gave up quite fast, expecting to be under a better commander's hands.

Luina let out a sigh of relief as she looked at Lanteo, saying, "Don't feel that sad. Since you attacked my Butiva Country, you were prepared for the consequences in case it failed, right? Or could it be that you truly thought that nothing would ever go wrong with your plans?"

"Hmph!" Lanteo, who began to heal his injuries, didn't really need to agree with Luina. "The one I made the Oath for was Himisve, not you. You're nothing more than a supporting character."

Himisve bitterly smiled in response, telling him, "Ahem... in fact, we didn't ally. Instead, I fell for the same trick that you just did. I did the Sect Oath after almost dying, so I'm under her command. No, to be more specific, I'm under Rean and Roan's command."

"What?!" Lanteo found it hard to believe. "No, first of all, who are Rean and Roan? Jamai doesn't have any disciples with such names."

Luina pointed at the twins. Well, Rean and Roan completely ignored them as they spent their time using the communication badge to organize the aftermath of the war between Butiva, Tramara, and Jaxto.

"Are you saying that you're following orders from those two ants?" Lanteo obviously didn't accept it.

Luina shrugged her shoulders when she heard that. "You're the type who sees any warriors from our small allied continents as nothing more than ants, right? Roan told me that your commanding abilities were ridiculously bad, showing that the one commanding the army was inexperienced in commanding anything. Let me guess, you didn't even let your two subordinates give you even a single idea and forced them to follow every order you gave without question."

Lanteo could not help but grit his teeth in response. "So what?! What would be the point in winning the wars against other countries if it wasn't you who commanded them? If you do that, you'll be showing that you can only rely on the ants' abilities. That would make you an ant yourself. How does it feel to rely on such weak ants from outside Jamai? I believe the elders watching from outside the continent are all laughing at your display. At least I did try to show that I could do things on my own."

Luina and Himisve looked at Lanteo as if they looked at an idiot. "How much more arrogant can you get? The elders are laughing? Lanteo, the elders want one thing and one thing only, conquer the Free Continent! Do you think they care how it'll be done?"

"This..." Lanteo was taken aback. "Whatever. Even if we get the continent, in the end, it would have been thanks to the ants' display. Our lives wouldn't change at all. There would be no extra resources, nothing."

Rean finally finished his part as he returned to the group. "Nothing, you say? You are indeed a self-centered idiot. This is the center of the Realm of Gods! The Center! Even if the way the sect treats you doesn't change, just the fact that you can stay here will benefit your future tremendously! No wonder you lost so fast. You have no vision whatsoever."

Lanteo got up as Divine Energy gathered around him. "You're courting death!"

Luina smiled in response. "Sect Oath. From now on, until the end of the competition, you are to follow Rean and Roan's orders. Otherwise, only death awaits you once the competition is over. Don't forget that the monitoring formation of the continent can see every single one of your moves, so you better not try to hold back on purpose either."

Lanteo's Divine Energy immediately dissipated after hearing that. Sure, he didn't want to do that at all. However, his pride wasn't as important as his life. Besides, he could get revenge once the competition was over, so he had to survive until then. "Fine! But I won't throw myself into suicide missions just because of the Oath. In that case, I would rather bet my chances at surviving on my own."

Rean nodded after hearing that. "That's enough for me. Now then, we just need to wait for Roan."

Roan was still focused on his communication badge, and he continued like that for another few minutes. Only then did he put the badge away. "Have you all finished your bullshit? We need to move. Lanteo, we might have trashed your plans, but your country only lost around 30% of its forces. I want you to gather everyone according to the instructions in this jade slip." Roan then threw a jade slip to Lanteo.

"This..." Surprisingly, Lanteo was taken aback by the contents of the jade slip.